A Year of Jubilee [The Death Note Fanfic]

Chapter 45

It was 2 AM at headquarters. Twelve hours since Jubilee had written in the Death Note.

The Task Force members had stayed up until midnight, debriefing each other on what had been found upstairs in Watari's room, and with L giving everyone a condensed version of what had happened to him on the other side. Jubilee had noticed varying shades of wonder and disbelief flicker between the others during this account, but no one said anything. Perhaps because it was too late to process such claims without sleeping on it first.

L had neglected to mention Light at all. The boy was the only one who emanated neither hues of awe nor skepticism, but instead, fiery rage. But he hid it all under a mask of curious interest, punctuated by perfectly timed lifting of the eyebrows to convey surprise. He said nothing at the end either, simply bade the others goodnight as he and Soichiro took their leave to go home for the rest of the weekend.

Jubilee, too, had neither been mentioned nor addressed by L ever since the incident with the notebook. In fact, he hadn't even looked at her once. She remained at her desk long after everyone else had trickled off to bed, and still he sat there in silence, hunched over in his chair and gnawing on a thumb while deep in thought. Either that, or he was brooding. She wasn't sure which.

On the other side of her, Hellenos wavered in and out of her vision, standing like a still and silent sentinel. But she paid him little attention. Instead her thoughts flitted back and forth between the turmoil of her own misgivings and the storm cloud of distressed colors that were hovering over the detective. The dark, somber blue still had not left him, though the streaks of red were starting to fade slightly.

"So, are you not talking to me anymore?" she finally demanded.

L still didn't look at her, nor did he speak for a long moment. At last, he stated tonelessly, "This is not me giving you the cold shoulder. There is no time for being petty. This," he continued, his voice coming out short and clipped as he scowled around his thumb, "Is me using all the possible brainpower I have available to come up with a solution to the problem."

She sighed to herself, looking up at the ceiling. "The problem being that I was reckless, I take it?"

"The problem being that Kira is still at large and will now undoubtedly make killing you one of his top priorities," L snapped. "That is the problem, Miss A—" He stopped and finally looked over at her, measuring her with a long gaze. "What do I call you now?" he asked softly. Lilac undertones wisped through the blue around him, making it lighten a shade. "I believe we are past formalities at this point. Yet it seems insincere to call you Julie when we both know that is not your name. At the same time, I obviously cannot call you by your actual name, given the circumstances."

Jubilee shrugged, though her heart beat faster at the sight of bright colors around him. "Call me whatever you want," she said. "It doesn't matter to me."

He looked at her for a moment longer, his scowl losing some of its severity before it faded altogether. "Well then," he said at last. "How about I call you...J."

She returned his gaze with a blank look until the suggestion slowly registered with her. Then a smile crept onto her lips. "J," she repeated. "I think I like that."

He nodded as though satisfied. "It suits you."

She beamed. "So, does this mean you forgive me?"

He looked puzzled for a split second, then pained. "There was never anything to forgive," he said, turning away again. "You did what you thought was best for the case at the time. I overreacted. What's done is done, and the important thing now is to continue forward in solving the case...as quickly as we can."